Shades of Understanding
by Mac NorthSea
Summary: When deep pain and exhaustion are mistaken for a lack of concentration and effort, only an intervention from beyond the veil can prevent a great tragedy. When Regina finds herself visited by the ghost, she isn't even aware that she is close to losing too much...


**This was a writing exercise to help me through the lack of inspiration and desire to write. In this story, I identified strongly with Emma, only I didn't have a Regina to help...**

**Set after the return from Neverland, but Pan never got to enact his curse, so AU...**

**Warnings for oblique mentions of suicide, and for emotionally hard times.**

* * *

The brunette scowled at the clock hanging of the wall in her anteroom, her heels clicking sharply over the polished marble floor, a brief pause in her pacing only serving to further sour her mood.

As the faint bells from the clock tower confirmed that the time she had gotten earlier was correct, Regina pivoted and went to her front door, angrily snatching it open. However, before she could step onto the patio she saw the source of her irritation striding quickly through the wrought iron gate, holding onto Henry tightly while she kept him firmly in front of her to keep him walking.

Henry, on the other hand, paid no heed to the blonde's hurrying steps, talking about something that had obviously taken his entire attention. Well, almost all of his attention, because the second he saw her standing there, in front of the white door, his face lit up and he rushed towards her, his ever growing body engulfing hers and with a joyful "Mom!" added in the mix.

Enjoying the hug from her son, Regina closed her eyes for a short moment, letting herself fully appreciate her son's presence, before gently pulling out and placing her hands on Henry's shoulders, absently noting that he had somehow grown taller in the short time she had not seen him.

As soon as she saw her son's face, her eyes zeroed in on a faint trace of chocolate syrup still visible in the corner of the teenager's mouth. Careful not to let her expression change, Regina smiled and caressed her boy's cheek, her heart still fluttering in overwhelming love when the child leaned into her touch, his rejections and cold shoulders too fresh on her mind. "Go, finish up your homework, and get ready for bed. It'll soon be your bedtime."

Thankfully, the boy only nodded in acquiescence, giving another hug to his mother and tossing a cheerful "Bye Mom!" over his shoulder to the other woman before he vanished into the house, leaving both of his parents outside.

The second Regina heard Henry close his bedroom door, she whirled on the spot to face the blonde, her calm and pleasant facade falling away from her face, her dark and angry eyes finding the green ones with ease. "You're late, Ms. Swan," she spoke quietly, not even bothering to acknowledge the woman's slight flinch at the name. "Again!" But before Emma could even speak, she bit through her teeth, "And, did you think to feed him anything else but sugar for dinner?"

"I" Emma started, quite uncomfortable with the seething edge to the Mayor's tone. "He-"

"-You are the parent here, Ms. Swan!" Regina snapped. "Did it even occur to you that his nightmares are much worse after junk food you keep feeding him?" At Emma's stricken look and stunned silence, Regina only shook her head and turned away. "I guess I hoped for miracles," she spoke quietly, her voice devoid of emotions, the flat tone only serving to make Emma stagger back, as if physically hit with the brunette's words. Ignoring the blonde's stumble, Regina went inside and without even looking at the dismissed Sheriff, she closed the door behind her.

* * *

To say that the things had gotten better in the next few days would be a lie. Growing ever more exasperated with the Sheriff's passive-aggressive behavior, Regina felt her temper fraying rapidly, not helped at all by the tiredness that plagued her. Henry still had trouble sleeping, his ordeal in Neverland seemingly overwhelming the boy's capabilities to weather the traumatic experiences.

Every attempt of teaching the Savior the arts of magic turned into unmitigated disasters, the blonde's lack of focus and lackluster attitude wreaking havoc on the places she had picked as training grounds, after the first mishap almost leveling her vault. Regina had only persisted in lessons because having an untrained sorceress would only bring disaster to them, and due to Snow's less than subtle badgering on the subject.

But, this! Regina seethed as she used her pen to slash through most of the reports she had gotten from the Sheriff's office. Mislabeled documents, disastrously balanced budget, and half-legible incident reports… It felt like Swan had gotten worse in her administrative abilities, along with everything else. No, she would not play this game, she decided. Gathering all the papers, she packed them into the folder and informing her secretary that she had to go to the Sheriff's office, she left the Town Hall.

Minutes after, she strolled through the hallway leading to Swan's office, her high heeled boots providing a sharp sound track to her steps, her posture radiating danger. But, when she saw the target of her anger resting her head on the forearms, bent over her desk, Regina could actually feel steam lifting off her skin. With an enraged hiss, she slammed the folder down onto Emma's desk, startling the blonde awake. For a moment, she grew concerned as she saw the wild eyes and a hand clutching the gun at Emma's side, but what little concern she felt evaporated in an instant as she noticed a slightly crumpled can of beer beside the Sheriff's elbow.

"Sleeping on the job, are we, Ms. Swan?" she spoke coldly. "And, drinking in the workplace, too." She didn't even bother to keep her derision out of her voice. "Wonderful."

Emma winced at the sharp sarcasm."Regina," she started, but at the cold and piercing look from the flashing dark eyes, she quickly backtracked. "Madam Mayor," she spoke again, but a sharp palm motion from the brunette stopped her.

"Save it!" Regina said harshly. "I am not interested in your pitiful excuses. However, since you can't even make sure to be appropriate in your workplace, your afternoon with Henry is cancelled." Quelling any rebbuttalls with a sharp look toward the beer, she pointed to the folder. "If you have any desire to stay the Sheriff, you will fix this pile of mess and redo the reports." The threat in her voice was unmistakable, and satisfied that the blonde had received the message, she turned on her heel and strode out.

* * *

"Henry," Regina spoke with slight hesitation as she saw him pass by the door of her office, the sound of his name bringing the boy back, only his head peeking into the room while the rest of his still growing body hidden by the wall. "You're home early," she said as she lowered her her glasses, looking at him with worry, not missing the frown on his expressive face.

"Grandma drove me home, Mom cancelled."

"Did she say why?"

Henry only shrugged before he disappeared from the door.

Tossing her glasses down onto the paperwork she had been doing before she had seen Henry, she reached for her cell and quickly found Emma's number, calling it immediately. When the robotic voice greeted her instead, she angrily broke the connection and dropped the phone onto the desk, breathing out purposefully through her mouth.

After several minutes, when she deemed herself calm enough to hold a civil conversation, she picked up her phone again and this time, she dialed Snow.

"Regina," her former step-daughter's voice greeted her the instant the call connected.

"I guess you knew I'd call," the brunette said flatly, before she continued. "Where is she?"

It was a long sigh that followed her question. "I don't know, Regina. She's… Something is wrong."

"Of course, there is something wrong, Snow," Regina replied sharply. "She blew off Henry. And that is just one of the latest irresponsible decisions she had made so far." The cold edge in her tone only went icier when she continued on. "It has gone far enough. I won't let Henry suffer for whatever her inefficiencies are. You can tell her she won't get within hundred feet from him until she deals with her problems and becomes a reliable person."

Her words were followed by a dramatic gasp she had honestly expected from the princess and then by the soft and pleading "Regina."

"No, it has gone too far. Good day!"

* * *

It had been a hard day.

No, that was an understatement. It had been a horrible day and it was not over yet.

It had begun with waking up to terrible screams coming from her son's room in the middle of the night, the sheer terror of it pulling Regina to his side in a blink of an eye, holding him in her arms even before the soft vapors of her magic had even a chance to start dissipating. Understandably, she had let him skip school for the day, and with his softly muttered permission she had arranged another meeting with Dr. Hopper for that afternoon, despite the fact that he had his regular meeting with the doctor the day after.

In order to be close to Henry, she had chosen to work from home, having her secretary to forward all the important calls to her cell, and she had found herself reading through briefs and documents in the living room, sitting on the couch with her back leaning against the armrest and Henry leaning onto her shins while he watched bits of daytime shows in between snoozing. It had been something she hadn't done with Henry for years and the last time it had been when the boy had a sore throat when he had been seven, and still had needed the sure presence of his mother to comfort him, and the very fact that her boy was feeling so vulnerable had broken Regina's heart.

To make the matter worse, he had kept looking at his phone, checking for calls or IMs. And, whenever it had dinged with a new alert, he had rushed to see who it was but then, his face had fallen each time as he read the get well wishes from his friends and grandparents. From everyone, really, but the one person he had wanted to call him or at least send him a text. After an hour of that, Regina had excused herself for a moment and called Emma's cell, only to find that the blonde had been still unavailable. It had taken her a bit to calm herself enough to hide her anger from her son, quietly seething at the Sheriff while she comforted her precious boy.

Leaving Henry in Hopper's capable hands for the afternoon, she had gone to the Sheriff's Department, hoping to find at least a small clue to where the blonde nuisance had been the whole time and to hopefully slap some sense into the Savior. But, once she had entered the building, she had started to notice something odd. The bullpen had been messier than it had usually been with Emma in charge of keeping it presentable, with a crumpled blanket tossed over the couch by the windows and half-empty bottle of beer on the desk in front of it, the ring of condensation long dried and staining several papers the bottle had been placed on.

Regina had frowned and turned around, her sharp eyes catching a detail or two that spoke of Emma's absence. But, what had caught her interest were the scattered pieces of plastic and glass by the cells and a dark indentation on the wall above them providing good enough evidence to what had happened to the blonde's phone. Not only that, the only landline phone in the bullpen was missing.

Shaking her head, the Mayor had taken several strides to enter the office and reached for the desk phone, dialing David's number from memory.

"Emma, where the hell have you been?" Regina had been startled by David's booming and angry voice,and judging by the sudden and strong reaction from the Prince Charming, the blonde had not been around her family as well.

"It's not Emma, David," she had said simply, ignoring the soft words of recognition. "Find her, and tell her that she is fired," she had spoken with deadly calm she honestly hadn't been feeling and not letting the man reply, she had slammed the phone down into the cradle before she had walked out of the office and only several seconds later, the building, her quick and angry strides bringing her to Hopper's place in almost no time.

* * *

The sudden presence of very familiar magic brought her out of her already too shallow sleep, and she sat up with a glowing fireball cradled in her hand, ready to be deployed.

"As if that would work on me, dearie," the former imp said drolly, using his hand not resting on the cane in front of him to brush off some invisible lint from his impeccable tri-piece suit.

Scowling at the Dark One, Regina snuffed the fire out and rose from the bed, throwing a house coat over her pajamas. "You're dead."

"Yes."

"But, you are in my bedroom."

"To state the obvious."

"How?" Regina asked, walking over to the man standing in front of her bed. "Is Pan here too?" she spoke in fear, already rushing toward the door, intent to go to her son.

"It's only me," Rumplestiltskin said gently, motioning to the brunette to stop. "And, I am not really here," he added as he used his hand to demonstrate his intangibility by passing it through Regina's shoulder.

"Do you mean to tell me that the great Dark One is a ghost?" the Mayor tossed snidely at the man, stepping away from the apparition, her emotions even more unstable at the revelation that her guest was an actual ghost.

"Not exactly," the Dark One said slowly, not bothered by the brunette's behavior. "I am to provide you with guidance, dearie, as the powers that be seem to think you need it."

"About what?" Regina asked as she used her magic to put on her business attire, slightly unnerved to be in front of her former teacher in sleep wear.

"Your current problem." Regina looked at the apparition with a confused frown. "The Savior."

"I don't know what are you talking about," the Mayor spoke sharply as she turned away from the man.

"That's not true, though. Is it, dearie?" Rumplestiltskin's mouth stretched in a smug smile as he placed both of his hands onto the cane in front of him. "Otherwise, I wouldn't be here."

"If you are offering to kill her, be my guest, but I am done with Swan."

"I cannot do that, the terms of my assistance are very strict." At the woman's incredulous look and scoff, he tilted his head to the side and raised his eyebrow, his pointed look daring his erstwhile apprentice to ask the obvious question about the terms and how he had ended up in her bedroom.

Regina sighed, sinking onto the lounge. "What is this assistance?"

"You'll see," the man spoke ominously before he tapped his cane twice, a dark red mist swirling around both of them and whisking them away.

* * *

After a long and nauseous moment, the mist cleared and Regina found herself in a place she had sworn she would never set foot to. The overwhelmingly lush jungle, the stifling hot air, the constant buzz of gnats and mosquitoes… Neverland.

In fact, it was a place where they had made a camp one night. She knew that because she could see herself sleeping with unease under one of the hastily placed shelters. As she was about to comment of the place they found themselves in, Rumplestiltskin motioned to the woman tossing in her sleep.

Suddenly, Emma startled awake, obviously hearing something. Surprised by the sudden motion, Regina raised her hands to placate the blonde, but the woman's eyes passed over her without seeing either her or Rumplestiltskin, seeking for something. Jumping to her feet, Emma pulled out the cutlass Hook had given her and after trying to rouse the others, unsuccessfully, she went into the shrubbery to explore whatever had woken her up.

"She can't see us?" Regina asked softly as she followed the Savior, glancing to the left where the Dark One was, easily keeping pace with Emma's long and careful strides.

"We aren't really here, dearie," the man replied. "We're only witnessing the past." Then, he waved his hand over her, and then she could hear the haunting cries that made her shiver spreading through the muggy air, and it was obviously what had woken Emma what she was following. Soon, she heard the whole conversation between Emma and Pan, remembering how the blonde had refused to share much of her meeting the next morning.

Then, before she could even blink, Regina found herself in front of Emma and Snow as they had been talking about Emma's feelings of abandonment. Hearing the soft and trembling voice of her arch nemesis carefully coaxing the blonde to speak the truth about her past and the responding emotion laden and harsh whisper from the Savior brought a twinge to her heart. Regina had known that Emma's childhood was one of extremely sore points for the young woman, but she had never even considered the fact that Emma had been lost. And, even Lost. A shudder passed through her as she contemplated the woman's pain. If Pan hadn't been such discerning about bringing only boys to the island, Emma would have ended up here long before she had.

Needing to divert herself from the black hole of her thoughts, she turned to her former mentor. "They never really explained how they got the map to work," Regina mused, the sadness and pity clear in her voice as she looked at the blonde's shuddering frame while the Savior tried to compose her enough to address the group. And, she could understand that, not sharing the painful revelations with others, especially on that island that was far from suitable environment for honest heart-to-hearts.

No longer startled by the sudden shift, she found herself watching the blonde fret about her absence, before she managed to bully others into following her to the cave. "I." Regina tried to speak as she glanced over the tense conversation between the fairy and the rest of the group. "I didn't know she did that."

"As you have perhaps realized by now, there are many things you don't know," the Dark One simply spoke and tapped his cane once, initiating another jump. This time, they weren't in the jungle but standing on a ledge off of a deep ravine, with stone ceiling above them and a sole pillar more than a hundred feet away with a cage with a person inside it, and despite the unfamiliar terrain Regina knew that it was still Neverland. "Oh, these are the caves, right?"

Rumple only hummed and pointed behind her, drawing her attention just in time to see that damn pirate coming through a narrow passage in the wall, guiding others to the ledge, his actions causing the prisoner to shout Emma's name, making the cave echo with his voice.

Rolling her eyes through the pirate's explanation and his 'truth', Regina chuckled lightly at Snow's soft rebuke directed at the 'Charming' Prince. But, then she heard Mary Margaret speak and for some reason while she listened to the woman's whiny speech, she was drawn to the Savior, unable to look away from the green eyes, the only part of the blonde's face that showed any kind of emotion, at least for a moment, before even they went flat.

However, no matter how shuttered Emma's eyes seemed to be, Regina could see them flash with surprise and grief at David's confession, before returning to their previous emotionlessness. Intrigued by the Savior's behavior, Regina followed Emma across the bridge even though she would most likely witness the reunion of lovers. But, that wasn't what she found. She heard Emma's heartbreaking confession and saw the break in Emma's stony composure, and moved by the pain in Emma's words, she didn't even scoff at Neal's jump to hug the blonde.

The next even Regina saw was the fight with the shadow and Emma's successful use of magic. "Notice how she gratefully she speaks your name," the Dark One said before guiding them to another event.

"Wait, this is the Vault," the Mayor whispered as she stumbled onto the grass, recognizing immediately the grave stone she used to hold herself upright. Then she had an unpleasant chance to experience the Savior passing through her to lean against the stone. "Really, Swan," she grumbled as she shook away the icy shivers that passed over her spine. But, even though she was stepping a small distance away, she listened to the Charming family conversation, finally realizing how much Emma was struggling with all the strange things, to her, going on around her. She hadn't grown up around all the magic and the killing and it had been throwing her through a loop every time something new would happen.

"This is about Emma," Regina said, turning to look at the Dark One. "Why?"

"I can't answer you that," the sorcerer replied, his voice telling more than his words. "You must watch." At Regina's eye roll, he only leaned onto his cane. "Are you ready for more?"

"Fine. Yes." Regina sighed, resigned to lose the rest of her night on Swan's memories.

Nodding at her acquiescence, Gold tapped his cane, transitioning them seamlessly into the Charmings' loft, more precisely, into the blonde's part of the loft.

"Regina," the Mayor heard and spun around, suddenly forgetting that she could not be seen by the inhabitants of the place. Instead of the suspicious blonde Regina had expected, she found Emma in bed, sleeping. Coming closer, she could see the sweat making the Savior's skin glisten in the night light coming from the outside, the fidgety sleeper soaking through her skimpy night clothes. "Henry," Emma gasped, tossing in her bed, her movement pulling her covers away. "Regina," the blonde murmured, turning her head sharply, her motion showing Regina the twisted sheets that spoke of restless sleep.

Then, in a quick jerking motion, Emma sat up, awake, the sharp movement startling Regina into yelping and backing a step away, getting a soft chuckle for her reaction from the apparition. Not even daining to comment on Rumplestiltskin's amusement, she watched as Emma threw on the clothes from the day before, and gathering her gun and phone, snuck out of the house.

"Where is she going? It's a middle of the night." Regina asked as they followed the Savior to the police cruiser. "She hasn't received any calls." But her questions were answered only minutes after, when the Sheriff pulled over by the Mayoral Mansion. "I don't remember her coming at this time."

"You wouldn't."

Indeed, for Emma never entered the house. She only made a circuit around the house, checking the lawns and any possible points of breach, testing the windows and doors, pausing shortly beneath Regina's room before she walked to the large tree in the backyard, craftily climbing up and reaching Henry's window. And, then, she just looked into the room for several long minutes, before quietly clumbering down and going to her cruiser, taking a seat behind the wheel but not starting the car, instead settling down for what it seemed to be a long wait. In not for the extremely tense and watchful manner of the blonde, Regina would have felt fury for the Savior daring to encroach on her property in quite the stalkerish manner.

"She is guarding Henry." the brunette sighed softly as she stood beside the car, taking in Emma's vigilant eyes that passed over the empty street.

"Not only Henry."

"Almost every night since finding you in the crypt," Rumple said gently, as he leaned against the car. "Not so much in the last two weeks." He glanced over at the stunned brunette gestured toward the oblivious Sheriff. "I assume the lack of sleep had been catching up to her."

The Mayor closed her eyes at the obvious implication.

"I have been terrible to her and she…" Sighing, she pivoted to the Dark One. "Fine, you've proved your point. I should be kinder and more considerate to Emma. Can we go now?"

Rumple shook his head. "We're not done."

"What else is there?"

"You'll see, dearie." He tapped his cane. "But, now, it's time for a different approach."

Tapping his cane two more times, he brought them to the loft again, where the blonde and Regina's former enemy were at the table, discussing something. However, this time, Regina wasn't just a ghost watching the memories, she was in the Savior, experiencing her emotions as well.

"This will help," Rumple said, standing beside seated Emma, staying in Regina's view.

Regina had a feeling that the Sheriff's face was rather stony, because despite the fact that Snow was an oblivious spoilt Princess, even she would not be able to ignore the visible signs of betrayal, anger and abandonment boiling inside her own daughter.

"Just, this isn't the place to raise a baby, and it is already crowded, especially when Henry is here. And, you'd have the whole place to yourself, and Henry can have his own room. It's not like we won't see each other all the time, anyway. It's better for all of us, isn't it?" Mary Margaret continued to ramble on while Emma remained quiet.

"If you think so," Emma replied with a flat voice, before she rose to her feet and walked into the kitchen, grabbing a bottle of beer. However, when she was about to bring it to her lips, the bottle exploded, the shrapnels of glass flying everywhere, along with the foamy brown liquid, followed by the electric lights flickering overhead the blonde. "Damn it," the Savior hissed, shaking her hand and checking it for cuts.

"I thought lessons with Regina were supposed to help," came the voice from behind Emma, bringing annoyance to the fore in the blonde.

"They are," Emma said after biting the inside of her mouth to stop herself from snapping at her mother and breathing deeply to get the handle on her power.

"It's very dangerous to let your magic get so wild, Emma," Snow went on. "You must get better control of it. I know you two don't exactly see eye to eye, but she is the only one that can teach you. So, whatever problem you have with her, you need to-"

"I don't have a problem with Regina," Emma interrupted sharply, but Mary Margaret just continued to talk.

"- and, if you'd stop being so contrary, maybe the lessons would go better."

"Mary Margaret," Emma said with a raised hand, having stopped the woman from speaking further, and Regina couldn't but see the wince the pixie haired woman did at the names. "Regina and I have worked out our issues. We may frustrate each other with the magic, but only because it defies every rule of nature I have grown up with, and it is going to take me some time to get used to it."

"Not to mention the emotional upheaval makes it that much harder to control it," Regina muttered aside, agreeing with Emma's side as the blonde turned around to get out of the kitchen and away from the other woman.

"I'm just saying."

Emma sighed and closed her eyes. "Anyway, I gotta go," she spoke without looking back at her mother and picking up her jacket from the back of her chair, she left.

The next few jumps also placed Regina into Emma's body and she had the chance to witness the Savior's tiredness and heightened irritability, chiefly when the blonde was set upon by the two men vying for her affections. Some of the Sheriff's pointed replies and rebuffs drew a laugh out of the Mayor, Regina adding snide remarks that only Rumplestiltskin could hear. But, the memories showed the royal that Emma was practically besieged by the men who could not take no for an answer, Neal banking on their familiarity and sharing biology with Henry, and the Captain just could not accept the words the blonde was saying at their face value, pushing her to choose him as her paramour. Some reprieve was gained by Neal's need to travel back to New York for a while, as Hook too backed off with the lack of his competitor, but Emma was still unable to sleep longer than two or three hours, her nightmares waking her up long before she had a chance to get rested, her dreams reminding Regina of Henry's sleeping troubles.

When Rumple moved them to another point in time, Regina cringed as she recognized the scene. "Do we really need to go through this one? I was here." She said, glancing at the Dark One, hoping he would agree, but he only raised his eyebrow and smirked.

They were deep in the forest, away from any hiking paths and anything important that wild bursts of magic could destroy, and they had been there for hours. Regina saw herself from Emma's point of view, sensing Emma's feelings of inadequacy and tiredness.

The sound of spell fizzling out spread through the small clearing Regina had made for them, followed by a dispirited air rasberry. "You need to focus," the scathing words came from the brunette sitting on an old trunk of a tree to the side, the woman not even bothering to look up and away from her reading material she had brought with her. "Pay attention to what you want your magic to do."

The words twisted something inside the woman, and she fought with herself not to react overly defensive, despite her desire to quit and get drunk. "I am, it just keeps doing that!" Emma replied slowly, her voice slightly raised in angry exasperation as she waved her hand in front if her, gesturing at the failed feats of sorcery.

The brunette sighed loudly before she closed the book in her lap, lifting her eyes. "Miss Swan," she addressed the woman coldly, Regina herself cringing at the iciness of the voice. "This spell is one of the basic charms of the magic craft. A five year old can learn it and sustain it for minutes without stopping. The fact that you can't only speaks to your ladaiscal approach to this endeavour."

"Regina," Emma rubbed her forehead, too tired to even retort at the barbs thrown her way and she tried to explain. "I just don't feel it the way you explained it should feel. And, when I try to focus, it just blows up."

The Regina from the memory had poured down the vitriol at Emma's inability to work with her, the words getting sharper after the blonde accidentally demolished some trees around them but now, the Mayor could actually feel the blonde's problem with magic, and truly, Emma had a different sense of it, so Regina's method of teaching was falling short. Along with the new insight in Emma's struggles and vulnerabilities, Regina had an idea how to proceed more successfully. And, she couldn't ignore how her own words were making the Savior feel, but with the expected chafing and tiredness, along with some anger and defensiveness, Regina was surprised to feel hurt and disappointment, not in her, but in Emma herself. The strong sense of failure brought Regina out of Emma, and she went to Rumplestiltskin.

"Why does she feel like she is letting me down?"

"Because, she is," the Dark One pointed out. "In her mind, it's her fault that you cannot teach her properly. The Savior is not blind to the fact that being unable to deal with her own magic makes her a dangerous liability. She is also very aware of how much time she is taking away from you." At Regina's slightly confused look, the apparition spoke further. "She defends you to the town's people, and she explained to Henry several times how your work with her had been the reason why you had to work longer. She doesn't let anyone speak badly of you, particularly not in Henry's presence, and she holds you, rather than Snow, as an example of how a mother should behave. To say that she holds you in great esteem would be an understatement."

"But, why?"

"That is not for me to answer."

He tapped his cane two times and suddenly, Regina found herself in the Sheriff's Department, experiencing a strange situation where she could see Emma in front of her and at the same time see her memories from a short time before.

The Sheriff had been called to break a fight down at the docks, and Emma had rushed, hoping to get done by the time she had to meet Henry. However, the minute she had tried to separate the two men wrestling on the pavement, her magic went berserk, tossing one of the fighters into the sea water while the other one had been dragged several yards away. Emma had pulled her hands back, staring at them with terror as the bystanders had hurried to help the two men. When a passerby had come near the Sheriff, asking her if she were OK, the blonde's hands had lit with blue light, the sharp crackle of electricity travelling through the air, making the people around step back. Frightened, Emma had run off and driving her cruiser to the office, she had gotten away from the streets and other people.

As she paced through the bullpen of her department, she reached for her phone to call her mother, knowing she could not go and meet Henry, not when streaks of light were randomly shooting out of her hands. However, one of those errant bolts erupted while she handled the cell, frying it completely, ratcheting her levels of panic. With some of the focusing exercises Regina had taught her, she calmed herself enough to pick up the office landline and dial Snow's phone, only speaking of having trouble with something and that Henry was waiting for her at the diner. The minute she ended her conversation, she stepped away from the phone, not willing to risk her magic destroying it too. As she tried to get a hold of her power, she whispered to herself about calling Regina at the office and trying to remember the number, her agitation not helping her at all.

While she was still trying to calm herself, the phone rang. Picking it up, and quickly placing it against her shoulder, Emma waited for the caller to speak, but hearing the words from her mother, the Savior froze, the shock of Regina's order draining her magic away in a fraction of a second. Not able to say even a word, she placed the handset back in the cradle, hanging up on the other woman, but before she could even lift her hand from the receiver, the horrid smell of melted plastic filled the air and the black phone warping under the uncontrolled heat brought on by Emma's magic. The blonde stared at the phone for a second, before she remembered what she had heard only seconds before. Then, in a fit of uncontrolled fury she launched her cell across the room, watching it disintegrate against the wall, before she walked into her office and crouched to reach a small, cleverly concealed fridge, pulling out several cold bottles of beer.

Regina watched with concern as Emma continued to drain beer after beer for more than two long hours, staring at the dark mark the phone had left on the wall, her emotions running a gamut until she was left empty and slightly drunk, sitting in the empty room, dark with the coming night. "Here's to sleep," the blonde murmured as she pulled out a blanket from behind the couch and settled herself for a nap. "Hope there aren't screams," she mumbled as she snuggled against the hand rest.

"I didn't even hear about the docks," Regina said after a long period of silence spent helplessly watching Emma suffer through bad dreams. "If I'd known she needed help…"

"Things are more complicated than that, I am afraid," Rumple said as he walked toward Regina, leaning toward her in lieu of placing his hand onto her forearm. "The next shift will show you what had happened earlier today."

They appeared in front of the mansion, as Emma was cautiously walking toward the gate, cringing every time when a light bulb would explode because she had come too close to the street light. Even the sole parked car close to her had not escaped the similar fate, its headlights imploding, while the sharp scent of burnt rubber spread from under the hood. At the trail of smoke starting to rise from the engine, Emma rushed to get away from the car, grabbing the wrought iron of the gate. But, not a second later she had to let it go, the black metal shining hot red in the place where her hand had been. After that display, Emma glanced longingly at the house, at the windows showing into the living room where she could see both her son and Regina, before she turned toward the closest way leading her away from the residential area and into the woods, where she would not be destroying private property.

"Oh, God, that's before we left for Hopper's," Regina realized, seeing Henry still dressed in pajamas.

"And, the next will show Emma now," Rumplestiltskin gently drew Regina's attention back to him, as he clicked his cane against the pavement.

The two appeared in the clearing Regina had been teaching Emma, finding the blonde kneeling at the center of the circle, slowly rocking back and forth as she mumbled to her chin, her eyes not moving away from her badge and weapon placed barely a foot in front of her, the polished metal gleaming in the light of the moon. When Regina crouched in order to come closer to the blonde, she was able to recognize the words Emma was muttering. Focus and Calm down were repeated with each movement, like a mantra supposed to help the Savior.

"Has she been here since the…?" Regina asked, vaguely gesturing at the previous trip to the memories. At the Dark One's nod, she gasped in horror. "It's been more than twelve hours!"

"Fifteen," the man softly corrected.

"It's freezing out here!" Regina spun in place, before she came to the apparition. "Take me back, I need to get to her before-" she managed to say before the Dark One raised her hand, interrupting her.

"There is one more thing to see," he said calmly.

"It doesn't matter, she needs help!" the brunette shouted in exasperation.

"One more thing," he repeated, even slower, his words pointed and not giving her time to complain, he moved them one more time. "You need to understand," he added sadly as he gestured with his hand in front of them.

Regina expected to see Emma, but instead she found herself following Ruby to the Sheriff's office, perturbed by the young woman's harried pace. The werewolf was obviously tracing the Savior and when she came upon the desk in the office, she frowned.

"It's two days later. Something happened earlier in the afternoon and several people ended up in the hospital." Regina listened to the Dark One's explanation before looked into the girl's line of sight and saw three pristine envelops on the desk, carefully arranged beside Emma's badge, wallet and keys to the loft. At the sight of the names painstakingly printed with a blue pen over the white surface, the Mayor felt her blood leave her face.

Snow & David

Henry

Regina

"No," Regina gasped as she came closer to the letters and the personal effects. "She wouldn't just leave," she said, but her voice wavered with uncertainty and fear. But, when she glanced toward her companion, she saw the pity on his face. Unable to stand it, she turned her eyes back to the desk, noticing one thing missing.

"She took her gun. Why would she…" The gut punch that followed the realization she had just come to almost brought her to the knees. "No!" she shouted in denial, tears springing out of her eyes.

"You had to see it," Rumple said taking them away. As the mist of magic cleared, Regina collapsed on her own bed. "The spiral fueled by each event I have shown you," he whispered as he crouched to look into the watery eyes. "You are the only one who can help her. And, you don't have much time."

At the reminder, Regina jumped to her feet and took her phone from the night stand, finding Ruby's number in an instant. "Was stopping this your task?" she asked of her visitor as she waited for the werewolf to pick up.

Rumplestiltskin smiled. "Let's say it was," he said softly. "Good luck," he added as he dissolved into the ether.

"'Lo," Ruby's sleepy murmur brought Regina to the point.

"Miss Lucas, it's an emergency," she said quickly into the phone.

"Regina?" Ruby seemed more awake this time.

"I need you to watch Henry," Regina spoke, quite aware that she had chosen the wolf because the girl had more common sense than the White Princess. The young woman didn't ask any questions, only saying that she would be at the mansion in two minutes. Satisfied with the response, Regina hung up and while she waited, she gathered the supplies she would need for her rescue mission, rolling two thick blankets for the ease of transport.

"Hey," the werewolf greeted her at the threshold of her bedroom.

"Emma's in trouble," Regina said simply as she put on her coat.

"Snow?"

"If that woman had deigned to tell me what was going on, the Sheriff wouldn't be in trouble," the queen said bitingly as she placed the blankets under her arm and other things in her hand. "I must go." Regina pulled the magic to herself and initiated the transport spell, wasting no time in getting to Emma.

* * *

Appearing only several inches away from the still kneeling blonde, Regina wasted no time in summoning the sticks and broken tree branches for kindling, quickly arranging them into a proper fire pit before setting the wood aflame. "Emma," she said gently, her hands reaching for the blonde's shoulders and stopping the frantic rocking. "Emma," she tried again as the woman gave no sign of even being aware of Regina's presence, but the blonde continued to mumble under her voice, eyes staring into nothing. "Oh, dear."

With a flick of her hand, she unfurled the blankets she had brought, folding one of them to one quarter and placing it on the ground quite close to the fire. Then, she gently manoeuvred Emma onto it, easing her onto her bottom before she sat beside the Savior, bringing the still unresponsive woman into her hold, wrapping the second blanket around both of them, quietly calling out Emma's name as she rubbed the blonde's back in comforting manner, hoping that the fire and the heat from her limbs would thaw out the Sheriff and also bring her out of the stupor she was in.

As she pressed against the Savior, shuddering at the cold body in front of her, Regina felt the prickling sensation of Emma's still errant magic, but judging from the lack of the actual power of it, the brunette surmised that Emma was very close to complete exhaustion, both physical and mental. Thinking back to what she had learned from the little excursion with Rumple, Regina admired the woman in her arms for holding out for so long. The emotional blows the blonde had gotten, along with the consequences of so many traumatic experiences and inability to sleep without booze, and even then, only for a short couple of hours would have broken anyone else. And, Emma might have handled the things a bit wrong, but Regina could perfectly understand why the Savior hadn't asked for help, or even gone to Archie for a consultation.

Storybrooke was a small town, especially when you were the long awaited Savior and the Sheriff, so Emma couldn't really do anything before it would be known throughout the town. And showing weakness to the people who expected her to protect them would only deride the respect the townspeople had for her and the office. Additionally, it would set the overly smothering and far too familiar advice-giving whiny monster, otherwise known as Snow, on her case and with all the recent, no matter how inadvertent, rejection she had gotten from the woman, Emma would definitely avoid such a situation, mainly because the Sheriff hated being so enthusiastically taken care of, too much of such treatment suffocating her and setting off her defense mechanisms which included angrily exploding on the source of frustration and running away.

It took Regina a minute to realise that Emma had stopped murmuring. "You're OK," she said in a low voice, careful not to startle the woman, maintaining the comforting motion of her hands, but mindful not to restrain the woman, at least not when she was only half-conscious. Slowly, she could feel the body in her arms relax bit by bit in time and sink into the hold she had on it.

"Magic," Emma mumbled after a while, leaning her head against the brunette's shoulder.

"I know."

"Henry?"

Regina felt a warmth blossom in her hardened heart at the slowly spoken question. "He's OK, Ruby's watching him."

"He missed school," Emma persisted.

"Nightmares," Regina replied simply as she knew the blonde was struggling to stay awake. "He needed a break."

Emma stiffened at the implication. The boy's emotional state was fragile enough to misconstrue her absence as abandonment, if only for a moment, which no doubt fuelled the horrific dreams. "Sorry," she murmured with apology.

"You made the right choice, Emma," Regina soothed gently, pulling the blonde tighter in her arms.

"Not safe," Emma still tried to explain, weakly fighting Regina's firm hold.

"I know."

"Couldn't call," the blonde insisted, weakly gripping Regina's upper arm.

"I know, Emma," Regina spoke softly into the woman's ear. "I should have known something was wrong from the start," she added with self recrimination, feeling guilty for not seeing the heaps of pain her partner in parenting was in. For Henry's sake, she needed Emma present and well, but that didn't mean that she hated the Savior's presence in her own life.

Moments after, Emma's hand released the hold, falling limply down as the blonde finally lost her consciousness and sank into Regina's body. Holding her in her firm embrace, the brunette considered her next step of action. She could bring the Sheriff to her home, but with the unstable magic, she would be risking Henry's safety and that was out of the question. And leaving Emma was something Regina didn't want to do, particularly after the last vision, but they could not stay outside in this cold.

After considering her options for several minutes, while she held Emma in her arms, suffering heat from both the blanket and the fire in order to warm up the still chilled blonde, she made a decision to bring them back to the Vault.

Raising herself to her knees, Regina shifted Emma's body in her arms, placing it into embrace-like hold, tossing the blonde's arms over her shoulders while placing the head with stringy blonde locks into the nook created by her shoulder and neck, and after making sure she had a good hold on the woman, Regina called up her magic. Along with bringing both of them to her hiding place underneath her father's mausoleum, the Mayor also took care of the fire and brought with them Emma's badge and weapon.

When they materialised in the pitch blackness of the Vault, the sorceress immediately used her power to quickly assemble a pallet from all the thick fur cloaks she had in the room to place the unconscious Sheriff onto, and to light several candles surrounding the blonde, chasing the dark away before she lowered herself on a wooden chest above Emma's head, prepared for a long wait. As she checked the Savior's breathing and skin color, she dug up the phone from her coat pocket, sending off a quick text to Ruby.

Being there, on the uncomfortable seat in the dimness of her sanctuary, prompted Regina to think back on Emma's behavior, to the display of what she had thought to be annoying bout of passive aggressiveness, irresponsibility and plain laziness. It had been humbling to see the real reasons for the Sheriff's distraction and the levels of Emma's persistence, or just old fashioned stubbornness had truly impressed the Mayor, and Regina resolved to apologise for her snappish comments as soon as the opportunity presented itself, but first she would help the blonde to get back to normal, or at least to get better.

However, Emma getting better was somewhat of a tricky goal, mostly because if Regina were to protect the Savior from the well-meaning but ultimately damaging intrusion of the townspeople in the process of healing, it meant exclusion of most of the family and friends, including Snow and the Cricket, both who were quite known for being blabber mouths, which left the brunette with few resources for the task. Even involving Ruby provided a significant risk, but Regina needed someone else who could connect with the Sheriff, and who could be a sounding board that didn't have burdensome expectations of the woman, something Regina couldn't be, simply because she was Henry's parent and Emma's magic teacher.

A spike of magic brought Regina's attention to the pallet, just in time to see Emma sit up with a gasp of their son's name. She moved a bit, sitting in Emma's line of vision, her motions slow and measured, knowing from the experience that physically comforting someone who wasn't used to it led only to exacerbating the situation. "He is asleep and safe in his bed," she spoke in a clear voice.

"Regina?" Emma mumbled, not quite comprehending what was going on.

"I took you to the Vault," Regina said instead of acknowledging the blonde's query. While she spoke, she could see that her companion had gathered her wits, and waving her hand, the brunette made the candles shine brighter.

"How did you find me?" the Sheriff spoke tiredly, peering through half lidded eyes at the other woman.

"I had help," Regina replied, watching Emma carefully and also monitoring the status of blonde's power, ready to intervene if needed.

"How's he?" There was no need to clarify who _he _was.

Regina pressed her lips for a moment, before she spoke. "The day in and the talk with Archie helped, but what he really needed was you." Reaching over, she took Emma's clenched fist and gently eased it open, bringing the pitch of her voice lower, as she looked into Emma's eyes. "I know you tried to call, and to come, but the fact remains that Henry needed you and he didn't have a way to access you."

Emma swallowed hard. "I," she begun but then she shook her head. "I wanted…"

"I am not saying that you should have come, even with your magic being an obvious danger to Henry," Regina said gently, leaning closer to the dejected blonde. "What I meant was that I am here for you, Emma. And, if you had come to me before everything got out of control, maybe it wouldn't have gotten so bad."

The blonde cringed at the woman's words, hunching her shoulders. "I didn't wanna bother you, after…" she mumbled weakly.

"I know," Regina said again, her voice soft. "But, that was the problem here," she spoke slowly, as she rose from the chest and sat beside Emma on the pallet. "I didn't know you were in trouble and I thought that you simply weren't trying. And, Emma, I know how hard is to practice magic when you are bone tired, I've been there."

Emma turned slightly, her knees touching Regina's as she glanced up at the brunette. "Sorry," she sighed, dropping her head down. A moment later, she was startled when a soft hand landed on her knee. Lifting her eyes to meet the dark brown ones, Emma saw a gentle smirk directed at her.

"Apology accepted," Regina said lightly, before she patted Emma's knee. "Do you think you could sleep a bit more?"

"But," Emma started, confused. "Henry?"

"He is OK, Emma. Ruby is watching him, and I have placed several safeguards around him, just in case," Regina said with patience as she reached for a small mirror she had placed in her pocket. "Do you want to see?" she asked, offering it to the other woman. After watching Emma keep guard around her property, she wasn't surprised at all to see Emma's worry for the boy. At the blonde's hesitant nod, she passed her palm over the surface of the mirror and activated the spell.

There, in the mirror was a sleeping boy, his bluish night light casting moving shadows over his face, but even in the dimness of the room Emma could see that Henry's sleep was calm, a relaxed pout only marred by the glittering trail of drool. "He's sleeping," the blonde murmured softly, her finger tracing the smooth glass, before she reluctantly offered the mirror back. When Regina took it, Emma sighed and pressed her face into her palms, rubbing her eyes viciously and leaned her elbows on her knees. "Now, what?" she asked, her soft croak steeped in exhaustion Regina could see on the blonde.

Regina could have easily coaxed the woman back to sleep, she had a feeling that Emma would pass out again the second she was horizontal, but she knew that the question the blonde had posed wasn't about the immediate future. "I think it would be good for you to take a little vacation from the Sheriff's office," she said gently, as she reached for the badge lying on the floor beside them, among the other objects she had picked up from the clearing. Wiping the dust of it with her thumb, she looked up at the woman beside, rushing to comfort the stricken look directed at her away from the blonde's face. "A break to breathe, just until other things even out."

Emma shook her head, her shoulders slumping. "I can't," she said. "Snow and David," she spoke slowly, and just with those names, Regina knew what the Savior would say next. "They will be all over me for that, and I can't avoid them," Emma said, then adding in a low and grumbling tone, "Not when we still live together."

"I have a solution for that, as well," Regina told the blonde, still holding the badge in her hand. "One that Henry would appreciate too."

Emma scrunched her eyebrows before realization came over her. "You mean…"

"Yes."

"But, you hate me," the Savior spoke in confusion.

"Do I?" Regina simply asked, raising her eyebrow. "I don't think I would have shown you such patience had I hated you.." Even though she was honest, she could see disbelief darkening the blonde's face, and the other woman flexed her shoulders as she lifted her head to speak again, to argue Regina's words, the brunette presumed.

"I am dangerous to be around," Emma said instead.

"Why?"

"My magic," Emma said pointedly. "I can't control it."

Not willing to indulge the blonde Sheriff in a long and arduous argument, which would only exacerbate Emma's problem with magic, due to her unstable emotions and further prove her point, Regina only reached for the woman's hand, placing the golden shield into Emma's palm before she clasped her own hand over the blonde's hand, keeping the badge between their palms, and then she brought her other one to press against the back of Emma's hand. "I know magic," she said simply. "I may not have the Dark One's levels of understanding it, but I know enough to discern why your magic has been unstable lately." Squeezing the hand in her grasp, she continued. "As you can see, you are not harming me, even though I can feel your magic rising within you." Bringing herself closer to the other woman, Regina kept their hands between them. "You need to rest and relax before you could even think about the concentration you need to control your magic. And, now I understand better how it works, so I will be better in helping you."

"You sure?" Emma asked timidly. "With Henry?"

"I wouldn't have offered if I wasn't," Regina said softly, but in a firm voice. "I may be many things, but I am not someone who experiments with my son's safety." Adding another squeeze to the hand in her own, she spoke again. "Trust me. I have your back."

Perhaps it was the use of the phrase she hadn't expected to come out of Regina's mouth, or the earnest eyes peering at her over their hands, but after a short moment of consideration, Emma nodded in acquiescence.

"Good," Regina responded with relief. "Now, back to sleep some more, before we go to the mansion. And, then, I thought, a light breakfast with Henry, to share the news?" the brunette ordered lightly, coaxing Emma back onto the pallet. When the blonde tried to resist the gentle hands pushing her down, startled by the words coming from the Mayor's lips, Regina only chuckled. "Relax, he'll be thrilled, and I'll be there to watch out for any problems." After making sure that the Savior would remain lying down, Regina returned to her earlier position, pleased to note that her earlier estimation of Emma's tiredness had been right, as the woman sank into sleep almost immediately after relaxing into the furs.

However, instead of returning to her quiet introspection, she summoned the Sheriff's weapon to her lap. The last scene Rumplestiltskin had shown her had terrified her beyond measure and knowing that she held the instrument of Emma's deed made her shudder in revulsion. With magic, she called one of the empty boxes she had used to store hearts in and changing its appearance to fit the weapon, Regina placed the pistol inside it and locked it, swearing to herself that she would not return it to the blonde until she was absolutely sure that the woman would be safe from her darker impulses.

* * *

Standing in front of the window in her study, Regina used her forefinger to trace the elegant design her magic had crafted out of the rosewood box she had taken out of her Vault. The weak light coming from the lit street lanterns outside provided just enough luminescence for the woman to watch the red color of the wood shine, the presence of the special brand of magic making it shimmer under the dying light.

"Hey," a soft whisper came from behind her, and she turned toward its owner, surprised to see her in her home office. "You OK?" the newcomer asked gently as she approached the brunette, her arms instinctively going around the Mayor's middle, pulling her towards herself.

"Perfect," Regina replied, returning the hug and sinking into the loving embrace she was offered. "You're home early," she said as she placed her hand on the woman's neck, the other arm still around the woman's shoulders.

"His Royal Highness was really cranky, so I ducked out earlier than planned," the newcomer spoke quietly, before she lowered her head and kissed the woman in her arms. "I missed you," she spoke several minutes later.

"We spoke two hours ago," Regina said teasingly as she nuzzled the blonde locks covering the newcomer's neck and shoulder. But, she she had too missed the other woman. The last few days had been hectic and apart from half asleep mumbled greetings in bed, the two women had not seen each other for more than three days, the one always up and gone before the other, or late in the office and home long after the other had gone to sleep. Even, though they technically worked together, they had not managed to cross their paths during the days.

"It's not the same," Emma whined, pulling the other woman closer to her. "But, I have the weekend off, and I hoped you could leave the Mayor's office unattended for a couple of days…" she started speaking, her voice tapering off into a tentative whisper.

Regina smiled and hummed at the idea. "What do you have in mind?"

"You, me, in bed at least for a whole day…"

"Let me see what I can do," the brunette said evenly before she offered a dazzling smile to the other woman, never breaking their embrace. However, the Savior removed one arm from Regina's back and waved her hand over the box Regina had been touching minutes before and when an audible click was heard, she removed her holster with her gun from her belt and placed it into the box, using her magic to lock the box again.

"Why are you in the dark?" Emma asked as she heard the satisfying click of the box.

"Just thinking," Regina replied with a light melancholy in her voice. "Of the day I made that," she added, her eyes darting toward the wooden lock box. "I am amazed how far we've come since that day."

"Well, it has been years," Emma said softly, remembering all too well that day.

Yes, years had passed since Emma had moved into the mansion. And, through the hard work on their communication and cooperation, along with their work on Emma's traumatic experiences and dark moods, and through several backslides and mishaps, the two woman had become better co-parents to Henry and good friends to each other. Having Regina as a barrier between the town and her had helped Emma in ways she couldn't even elaborate; one of main perks being that the persistent suitors had gotten the message when the Evil Queen had threatened to burn them to cinders if they did not desist. Also, with Emma's constant presence in the house, Henry's nightmares had seemed to ease up, before completely disappearing, leaving behind a well rested and ecstatic boy. Even Emma's magical lessons had progressed to an impressive level in the first months of their cohabitation, so afterwards the two sorceresses had just worked on exploring their magic and making it work together. After several months of living together as a family, the three of them in the house had come to a firm agreement that Emma's presence there had no longer been on a temporary basis, but that the blonde had to consider the mansion her home and fully move in with the Mills's. Slowly, as Emma had grown more at ease with her role in the town, both as the Sheriff and the Savior, the relationship between the two women had started to change. The trust and belief they had had in each other had grown into affection, which had later grown into love, forged stronger by every crisis and every casual day. And, finally, three years after that fateful visit from the deceased Dark One, the Mayor and the Sheriff had gotten married in a small and intimate ceremony, with only their family and closest friends present.

"I don't think I had ever felt as lost and desperate as I had in that moment before you found me," the blonde spoke somberly as she leaned her forehead against Regina's. "You saved me," she added earnestly to her wife, but Regina shook her head in disagreement.

"You saved yourself, Emma. You did all the work."

Emma chuckled at the predictable comment, as she had heard it many times before, along with the true story of what had happened that night. "You stopped my spiral," the Sheriff said pointedly, her words earning an indulgent half-smile. "But, since that day, no matter how bad I would feel about myself and this town, it had never gotten that bad, because I knew, because I know that you have my back." Emma's words resembled the blonde's wedding vows, the unfaltering belief in her wife and her new family bringing tears to Regina's eyes.

"I was so scared that day, and I didn't even know what I stood to lose…" Regina murmured, her voice catching before pressing her face into Emma's chest.

"I am here, baby, and I'm not going anywhere," Emma comforted her wife, gently rocking them as she firmly held on to the brunette. "What brought this on?" she asked later, when the two of them were sitting by the fire, still holding to each other on the couch. Even though Emma could see that her wife was exhausted, and that the past days had exacted a heavy toll from the two of them, it still didn't explain Regina's sudden shift in her mood.

The brunette snuggled into the other woman's neck and sighed. "I fell asleep this afternoon going through the proposed budget for the Main Street project," she spoke slowly, her voice muffled by Emma's sweater. "He visited," Regina said and Emma could feel shivers travelling down her spine. There was only one who would inspire such reaction in Regina, so Emma didn't need further clarification on who He had been. "Just to say thanks for helping him in his task, but still, his presence brought me back to that night."

"Oh, baby," Emma spoke before she started humming soothingly, kissing Regina's temple. She remained by the fire, humming a gently tune, as she watched the object that had started the whole conversation.

The first time she had heard the full story of the beyond the grave visit from the Dark One and the memories the man had imparted on Regina, including the one that had never happened but could have, very easily, she had been shaken to the core. Luckily, her friend and partner had judged, correctly, that she would be able to deal with the information, despite the shocking news. Believing that you had been in a bad place and knowing that you were heading for a very unhappy ending were two very different things, and hearing that she had come so close to breaking the one promise she had made to herself in the foster care made all the more determined to make the partnership with Regina work.

Each new retelling of the story only made Emma more determined not to sink to such lows ever again, using all the support systems and coping mechanisms the two of them had devised for Emma, and eventually, the blonde was OK.

But, seeing her wife reminded of that day, of that fear, it squeezed Emma's heart painfully as she was unable to shield Regina from the past and from the momentous impact of that event. The only thing she could do was to be there and remind the woman that they were OK. The thing she was doing now.

As the night completely fell over the small town, Emma brought her wife into her arms and carefully rose to her feet, making sure not to jostle the sleeping woman as she shifted the brunette into the bridal carry, ready to take her upstairs to their bedroom. Instead of using magic, the blonde physically carried the unconscious Mayor to the upper floor of the mansion, pausing for a minute to inform their almost grown-up son of their tentative plans for the weekend. Only when she had brought them to the safety of their bedroom. Emma used her magic, and just to take off their clothes, and tucking Regina in the bed before joining her.

It had taken an intervention from a ghost and a lot of effort on her side, but she was OK. More than OK, she noted as she enveloped her wife in her arms and let herself sleep.


End file.
